Viewers lose interest in Ant & Dec

Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway shed over two million viewers by its second episode on Saturday (March 20), early ratings data shows.

Last week the programme returned with a triumphant 8.68m average, peaking at 9.41m. This week the show averaged 6.82m and a 32.29% share, despite appearances by Suranne Jones, Pete Waterman and Anastacia.

On BBC One at the same time, Weakest Link held 5.16m (25.67%) between 6.45pm and 7.35pm, followed by an audience of 5.85m (27.54%) for National Lottery: Jet Set immediately after.

At 8.10pm, a special Mothers' Day edition of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? drew a respectable 6.62m (30.12%) on ITV1, while 6.32m (28.61%) took BBC One's 'Great British Test' as part of the ongoing Test The Nation strand. The results show, screened between 10pm and 11.10pm, brought in 6.22m (32.69%).

Five's top show of the night was a new episode of CSI: Miami at 9.15pm, pulling in 2.52m (11.50%).

Overall during peaktime it was a much closer race between ITV and the BBC, with average shares of 28.74% and 27.58% respectively. BBC Two stayed third on 11.00% (up from 10.34%), followed by Five with 8.00% (up from 6.98%). Channel 4 continued to flounder in fifth place with 4.77% (up from 4.07%).